Into the Cosmos: Space Exploration and Soviet CultureJames T. Andrews, Asif A. Siddiqi The launch of the Sputnik satellite in October 1957 changed the course of human history. In the span of a few years, Soviets sent the first animal into space, the first man, and the first woman. These events were a direct challenge to the United States and the capitalist model that claimed ownership of scientific aspiration and achievement. The success of the space program captured the hopes and dreams of nearly every Soviet citizen and became a critical cultural vehicle in the country's emergence from Stalinism and the devastation of World War II. It also proved to be an invaluable tool in a worldwide propaganda campaign for socialism, a political system that could now seemingly accomplish anything it set its mind to. Into the Cosmos shows us the fascinating interplay of Soviet politics, science, and culture during the Khrushchev era, and how the space program became a binding force between these elements. The chapters examine the ill-fitted use of cosmonauts as propaganda props, the manipulation of gender politics after Valentina Tereshkova's flight, and the use of public interest in cosmology as a tool for promoting atheism. Other chapters explore the dichotomy of promoting the space program while maintaining extreme secrecy over its operations, space animals as media darlings, the history of Russian space culture, and the popularity of space-themed memorabilia that celebrated Soviet achievement and planted the seeds of consumerism. |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 13 | |
Part II Myth and Reality in the Soviet Space Program | 45 |
Part III The Soviet Space Program and the Cultural Front | 157 |
Other editions - View all
Into the Cosmos: Space Exploration and Soviet Culture James T. Andrews,Asif A. Siddiqi No preview available - 2011 |
Common terms and phrases
American antireligious Asif astronauts atheist atheist education August aviation became Berlin Bolshevik campaign canine celebrity Cold Cold War collecting cosmic cosmos de-Stalinization DRA Babelsberg early East German edited engineers Gagarin’s flight German Titov Gerovitch girls Glavlit Golovanov hero historian human spaceflight Ibid ideological issue Iurii Izvestiia journal journalists June Kamanin Khrushchev Korolev Laika launch lectures Leonov military missile mission Moscow Mozzhorin narrative Nauka i religiia official Ogonek orbit organizations pins Pionerskaia pravda planetarium political popular Pravda propaganda regime religion religious rocket rocketry role Russian satellite science and technology scientific scientists secrecy Sergei Korolev Siddiqi Skrytyi kosmos social socialist Soviet citizens Soviet cosmonauts Soviet science Soviet space program Soviet Union Space Age space dogs space exploration space race space travel spacecraft Sputnik Stalin Stalinist stamps television Tereshkova tion Titov Tsiolkovskii Ulbricht University Press USSR viet Voskhod Vostok York Yuri Gagarin znachki